Lingiari

Outback Northern Territory

Marginal Labor 3.7%

MP

Warren Snowdon (ALP) since 2001, having previously represented the single Northern Territory electorate 1987-96 and again 1998-2001. Minister for Indigenous Health, Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, Minister Assisting for the Centenary of ANZAC.

Profile

Lingiari covers 1,352,371 square kilometres, or 99.98% of the Northern Territory. The electorate includes the whole of the Northern Territory except for the Darwin and Palmerston metropolitan area. It takes in both the top end and the outback, the two largest centres being Alice Springs in the centre, Katheriner in the north, along with some of Darwin's periphery. The electorate also includes the Commonwealth Territories of Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands, neither of which are administratively part of the Northern Territory. (Map)

Background

First created ahead of the 2001 election, the district is named after Vincent Lingiari OAM (1908-88). A Gurindji stockman from the Victoria River district, Lingiari led a walk-off of about 200 Aboriginal stockman and their families from Wave Hill Station in 1966, leading to the establishment of the Wattie Creek Aboriginal community. His efforts for land rights led to the grant of 3,200 sq.km around Wattie Creek in 1975, a ceremony famous for Gough Whitlam pouring sand from the land into the now blind Lingiari's hands.

The new seat was easily won by Labor's Warren Snowdon at its first contest in 2001, Snowdon re-elected with an increased majority in both 2004 and 2007. However, there was a 7.5% swing against Labor, with enormous swings in the mobile booths servicing the remote Aboriginal communities. The big swing to Labor in 2007 and then against Labor in 2010 have been blamed on local reaction to the Federal intervention into remote Aboriginal communities. A similar trend cost Labor several remote electorates at the 2012 Northern Territory election.

2011 Census Profile

At 42.7% Lingiari has Australia's highest proportion of residents of Indigenous origin. In line with the recorded high birth rate and shorter average life span of Indigenous Australia, Lingiari has the nation's third highest proportion of children aged 0-4 (8.6%), the highest proportion aged 5-14 (16.9%), the lowest proportion aged over 65 (5.1%) and the nation's lowest median age at 30. It has the fifth highest proportion of single parent families (14.9%) and the third highest proportion of rented dwellings (53.1%) and the lowest proportion of owned dwellings (15.3%).

2013 Ballot Paper (8 Candidates)

Candidate Name

Party

FLYNN, Peter

Citizens Electoral Council

SHAW, Barbara

Australian Greens

GOULD, Alf

Independent

MacFARLANE, Tina

Country Liberals (NT)

McCARTHY, Regina

Rise Up Australia Party

HEDLAND, Trevor

Palmer United Party

LECHLEITNER, Kenneth Immanuel

A.F.N.P.P.

SNOWDON, Warren

Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory) Branch

Candidates

Peter Flynn

Citizens Electoral Council

Flynn lives in Humpty Doo near Darwin. He describes himself as having a wealth of accumulated experience having grown up on a wheat and sheep property, spent six years in the Australian Navy as well as working as a heavy equipment Mechanic and Construction Supervisor before spending over 15 years as an Earth Moving Contractor. He was the CEC candidate in this seat at the 2010 federal election.

Barbara Shaw

Tina MacFarlane

Country Liberals (NT)

MacFarlane has been involved in the pastoral industry for most of her life, and she and her husband own Stylo Station, a cattle station just outside Mataranka. MacFarlane managed the CLP's successful campaign to win her local seat of Arnhem at the 2012 Northern Territory election and has been a member of the Country Liberals for five years. She has long association with many regional based community organisations including Mataranka Community Government Council, the Isolated Childrens Parents Association, the Australia Day Council and Landcare.

Trevor Hedland

Warren Snowdon

Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory) Branch

63 year-old Snowdon held the seat of Northern Territory from 1987 until the defeat of the Keating government in 1996 before being re-elected in 1998. He switched to the new seat of Lingiari in 2001. Between 1977 and 2001, Snowdon was the only member for the Northern Territory to ever win re-election. Thought too left-wing when first pre-selected in 1987, Snowdon won thanks to splits in the conservative ranks caused by the 'Joh for Canberra' campaign. Whatever his personal politics, he passed the important test that all members for the Northern Territory must pass, that is to demonstrate an ability to divert Commonwealth funds to the Territory. Born in Canberra, he moved to the Territory in 1973 where he worked as a teacher and later as a researcher at the ANU Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies on the Aboriginal Children's and Families' Heritage Project. He has been a junior minister since Labor came to office in 2007, holding different combinations of Indigenous health, Veterans' Affairs and junior defence portfolios.